Depending on the publication, it’s been dubbed one of the worst, most miserable or poorly run cities in America.

But for Cody McKenzie, beautiful Stockton, Calif., is paradise.

So as McKenzie wraps up preparations for next week’s UFC on FUEL TV 3 event, he’s considering a permanent move to the “209,” thanks to new friends and training partners Nick and Nate Diaz.

After an invitation from the Diaz’s trainerm Cesar Gracie, McKenzie (12-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) ditched his usual nomad training camps for a permanent presence in Stockton. McKenzie now meets lightweight wrestling standout Marcus LeVesseur (21-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC on FUEL TV 3, which takes place May 15 at Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va. It’s the featured Facebook prelim preceding the FUEL TV-televised main card.

Once he arrived in Stockton, the longtime Alaskan felt like he was home.

“It was awesome,” McKenzie told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) while in Las Vegas for the last days of his training camp. “I’m going to end up moving there. I’m making the move to Stockton. I liked the area a lot, truthfully. It’s very beautiful up there. It’s a bit greener than here (in Vegas). I grew up in Alaska, so I kind a like the rivers and lakes and stuff. There was a bit more of that.”

But it wasn’t just the scenery. McKenzie, a guillotine-choke specialist who joined the UFC after his stint on “The Ultimate Fighter 12,” also found some like-minded folks, including the Diaz brothers.

“It was a little bit more like home there with the people and the atmosphere and everything,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting up there and hanging out with those guys again. I made a lot of good friends right away.”

McKenzie, in fact, roomed with Nate Diaz, who recently claimed a title shot with this past weekend’s UFC on FOX 3 win over Jim Miller, for the first few weeks of his trip. While calling him and his brother “punks” would be a compliment by most people’s standards, McKenzie said he saw the other side of the oft-criticized fighters.

At training sessions, the Diaz brothers were quick to impart their wisdom, they apologized profusely if a punch or submission hurt a training partner, and frankly, they were just fun to be around, McKenzie said.

Then, during one of his first days in Stockton, he and Nate were driving around when they noticed a broken down car. A husband, wife and child were stuck.

“Most people would drive by and think, ‘Man, it sucks to be you,'” McKenzie said.

Instead, the younger Diaz stopped his car, checked to assure everyone was safe, directed traffic around the breakdown, and then pushed the car out of harm’s way while wishing the family better luck.

McKenzie’s other wake-up call came from the Diaz brothers’ wealth of knowledge about dieting and nutrition. Sure, McKenzie fights at lightweight. But up until a few months ago, he considered bacon, eggs and sausage a healthy breakfast. It’s a big reason he wrestled as a heavyweight in high school, where he helped launch the program.

“I was wrestling at a B-school level,” he said. “I was wrestling a bunch other fat kids too. I was like 215 (pounds), wrestling at heavyweight. But I wasn’t wrestling anyone that good. I was actually scared of the smaller kids. Like, ‘Dang, those guys are good, and they have moves and everything.’ Us fat guys would just grab each other and start tussling.”

With Nate and Diaz, McKenzie learned what it meant to eat clean. He learned why tap water should be avoided. He learned how to train better. And he learned how to get the most out of his training camps, which he believes will lead to overall better conditioning in next week’s fight, where he needs to end a two-fight losing skid.

“With nutrition and diet, the Diaz brothers are very, very intelligent,” he said. “Diet and cardio go a lot hand-in-hand, I’m learning. I never knew anything about dieting. I’d be eating cheeseburgers all day. And I never really ran at all for fights.

“Knowledge is power, and well, I didn’t know nothing before I met Nathan and Nick Diaz.”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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